More to come!

The title of this entry is dedicated to the show I love... The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. This is simply because I miss Johnny that much. But there really is more...

I haven't had much time lately to write, because I've been working two jobs. My free time consists of the midnight hour after my night gig which is spent watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann. For me, this is a worthy waste of time.

But much has happened that I want to write about. Parties happen. Tonight I was at a party which included one beautiful girl in a topless number. Odd people in the subway do their bit. And there was this very strange call to a more than slightly deranged man at my night job this week which was certainly worth an entry, but I haven't had time to write about...

There really is so much worthy of note and too little time to write.

But I haven't forgotten about my friends. I promise you there is "More to Come." But for tomorrow, I'm either going to a semi-pro touch football game, or I'm headed to the Natural History Museum. Either way, Sunday will be spent in Manhattan, and I can think of few better ways to spend a Sunday.

You're A One-In-300,000,000 Kind Of Person

By the time you woke up on this Tuesday morning, the population of the United States is estimated to have reached 300 million. Throughout most of my life in tiny little Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, then little city Harrisburg, I would have found that hard to imagine. But now that I'm pushing my way through crowds to get a place to stand on the V train on my way home after work, it seems about right. The V, by the way, has the worst seating arrangement I've ever seen, next to the Philly metro.

Ah! But there's nothing in the world like living in a big city, and if given the chance, I certainly recommend to everyone experiencing life in New York for at least a little while. Sure, this planet is overcrowded. Sure New York has almost 2.7% of the U.S. population (over 8 million here!!). Sure, it can be difficult living so close to so many people at once, but there is also something amazing about it. Even though a trip to the post office, with long lines of people, each trying to remain calm in a stressful environment, tends to set off the pushy, middle-aged women with the heavy Queens accents (two of them on my trip today), most of the time life is fun in the Big Apple.

300 Million? So most of them have a house, with land, and are pumping out airconditioning, destroying the environment, and... well, maybe the world isn't big enough for so many people.

Aw McCainie, Come On!

Here we see Senator John McCain, doing his best Muppet impersonation, with W's hand up his ass.

Now wayward McCain is Trashing our beloved Bill Clinton's North Korea policy from the 90's. You know, back when Clinton was trying to talk with Kim Jong "License to" Il in order to prevent what's happening now? You know, now that the Bush Regime has ignored the Kim Regime because our president is brain damaged? McCain dropped this recently:

I would remind Senator (Hillary) Clinton and other Democrats critical of the Bush administration's policies that the framework agreement her husband's administration negotiated was a failure... The Koreans received millions and millions in energy assistance. They've diverted millions of dollars of food assistance to their military.

I don't care that the guy wants to be president-elect in 2008. Distorting facts (or outright lying) will only make one seem more like Bush. We've had enough of Bush. McCain will only do well in 2008 if he comes across as the Uniter we need not the Divider Bush has been. The country is ready for a man of the middle. Moving right will only make McCain seem more like ABC tv.

By the way I'm boycotting ABC tv these days.

Overheard

While I relaxed on my 15 minute break from my evening job tonight, the popular "Dancing with the Second-Rate Stars" fed me info about how Willa Ford - some lame pop singer - and her dance partner have developed a relationship. I bet everyone 50 bucks their lives become a reality program because people just gots to know! Garsh it sure were inneresting.

I nearly fell asleep.

Then once of my co-workers, whom I've never seen until today, walked into the breakroom, announcing loudly on her wireless phone:

I'm tired. Just tired. I expected a better weekend for My birthday. How was it? It was terrible! Well, I'm dating a psychopath, so what do you expect?

I didn't really want to know this person is dating what appears to be a serial killer per her description. Did she really want me to know? I don't think she minded that I overheard since she was talking louder to her friend on the phone than she would have if that same friend were standing in an airplane hanger across from her.

By the time my break ended, all I could think about was, "How sad that she's dating a psychopath. At least Willa Ford happy nowadays."

C'mon, Do You Really Think Bush Is Responsible For This?

North Korea has entered the nuclear family and Democrats are crying foul over the Bush Administration's handling (or mishandling) of Kim Il Communication. But is this a fair claim?

A couple of years ago my right-wing reactionary friend E.S. and I argued about what Bush should do about North Korea. At this time the war in Iraq was relatively new and my friend said we should continue to do exactly what Bush has started - nothing. I thought it was daft, considering that North Korea was clearly trying to bring attention to itself for both it's problems of energy and it's desire to be a more substantial player on the world stage. E.S. said we should just ignore the nation as though it were a spoiled child. I countered that if a nation has nukes it would be a little more difficult to handle than a crying toddler who dropped his lollipop. The issue of our national security was not even worth the debate when I told E.S. that it isn't just North Korea having the weapons, but the fact that they could sell them to any America-hating nation that wants them for the right price. My friend shrugged.

24 hrs ago the news that North Korea has performed a successful underground test seems to fall in line with the logic I saw. Should we still be ignoring North Korea? Should we continue to say that burying our heads in the sand that will soon be turned to glass? Can Bush really be considered responsible for this?

Yes.

Certainly Bush did not give North Korea the technology (his Defense Secretary did - YES READ THIS), but Bush did nothing while the situation became more and more out of control. Much in the same way that Speaker Hastert can be responsible for doing nothing to stop Mark Foley means that Hastert was part of the problem. BUSH IS PART OF THE PROBLEM and his incompetance has made this continued downward spiral of American safety into one of the greatest ironies of American History. Hopefully there will still be someone around to write said history when the hurly burly's done.


It wasn't enough for Bush to bring back the politicians of the Eighties, now he has to bring back the fears of "The Day After." I went through that as a kid. I don't want my niece and nephew to have to lose sleep over it as well. I guess this means we will be building up our arsenal again as well...

Happy Birthday John (Winston) Ono Lennon

He would have been 67 today

No Subway Series

Unfortunately, there will be no Subway Series during my first season in the NYC metro. The Yankees have lost, so the Mets (when they win the NLCS) will have to jet across country to Detroit or the West Coast to play their AL hosts. Even though I'm too cheap to buy tickets, it would have been great to take the subway trek between stadiums. Here's how it would have been:

On the map above you can see three circles of red. The lower left circle is where I would leave the PATH train to set foot on wonderful NYC ground. I would need to go to Yankee Stadium for the first games of the series (per the schedule, AL hosts first). As long as the weather is nice, I would probably walk East to catch the 6 train (green line) at 33rd & Park Ave South, then transfer to a 4 train (same green line, but an express in Manhattan) at Grand Central. The 4 goes all the way to Yankee Stadium where I drew the top red circle on this map.

Of course, if I were to just go from Yankee Stadium to Shea Stadium, it would be an easy return on the 4, but switch to the purple line 7 train at Grand Central, then out to thered circle I've drawn on the right. Having to go home first, it gets more complicated. The subway series would have been nice, but Alas, it will not be.

Worse yet, I've heard that Joe Torre will be on the outs because the Yankees lost. I guess "the buck stops here" actually means something in baseball. Unfortunately it no longer does in politics. For some reason BushCo is still dishing out bad policies. And in the meantime our subways still have to be protected for terrorist threats. NYC is always at Orange when the rest of the country enjoys a mellow Yellow terror threat.

Lessons of the City

In August I learned my first lesson of living in (or nearly in) New York City. I got on the wrong bus. It was evening, around sundown, and I grabbed the M8 Crosstown bus off of the Christopher Street PATH stop. Unfortunately, I took East when I wanted West. After I got on I thought, "Well, it will come around the corner and head back East in a few minutes." Just as the thought bubble with elipses were read in my cartoon panel, the bus driver announced, "Last stop, you have to get off." So there on West St., stranded with a transfer ticket and a map of where the hell he was supposed to be going, was the classic newbie.

What a way I found to make my entrance into the population. The store fronts were all boarded up and grafittied, and I waited for what seemed like 20 minutes (but was probably 19) for my ride to arrive. I knew eyes were watching me with curiousity. One individual walked past, stopped, waited behind me, walked past and returned, so I put my hand firmly on my pepper spray just in case. He eventually moved on (dot org) and I relaxed. Soon the bus came and I landed at happy hour in Alphabet City only 10 minutes late. My lesson: Know Which Carriage You Want.

Tonight I learned another important lesson: Carry An Umbrella, Doofus!

I left home this morning for a successful interview (more on that later) under warm, sunny skies. After a trip to the AMNH, I returned home for a 15 minute nap and back to the pavement to go to my night job. I thought it was supposed to rain today, but I must have been mistaken because the weather was fantastic. It could be the last short-sleeve day, so I wasn't about to run half a block back home when I remembered I didn't have an umbrella.

Tonight when I left work, the smell of rain in the air covered the smell of garbage in the street. The sidewalk was damp of a recent sprinkle, and the overcast sky forbode something I did not want to believe. By the time I exited the PATH station in Hoboken, the downpour kept most riders under the cover of the stairway awning. I felt brave however, and walked into the wet.

After about 30 seconds my clothes were soaked to the skin and my skin was soaked to the bone. Another half minute and my bones were soaked to my ability to blame anyone but myself. I knew I was an idiot for leaving my bumpershoot at home.

It took only a three block walk to get to a CVS to buy an umbrella, but the $15 price was far higher than the Manhattan street price of $3. Nothing like being desperate. For a 20 minute walk in the rain, an hour's pay was worth keeping the rain off.

Now at home I have a collection of 4 umbrellas, which I plan to hook over every door in my apartment should I forget again. I just hope a lesson learned is not a lesson forgotten. Or at least that I'm in Manhattan near a street vendor if it rains instead of Hoboken.

You Can't Polish Flip-Flops

I don't know what my title means, but somehow I'm going to make it relevant.

I think I may be sick. Now that the Foley scandal is running nearly full throttle, what do the conservative fatheads have to say about it? What else, but to bring up Bill Clinton.

WTF?!

From clips I saw tonight on Countdown (Oct 3 edition), the right wing talkshow circuit is not only downplaying the significance of what Congressman Mark Foley did, but they are saying, "What about Bill Clinton?" Now, besides the fact that Monica Lewinsky was a 22 years old willing participant in the oval office frolicking, not 16 and under like Foley's VICTOMS (Matt Drudge had the nerve to say the young boys are responsible!!!), the Republicans impeached Clinton for what he did!!! Yet they STILL want to sweep this scandal under the rug.

Here's the thing. I don't know if there were Democrats who did similar horrible things in the past, but this is the issue at hand, and the Republicans are SUPPOSED TO BE the party of Family Values. Every moron who approaches this issue with, "take a look at the Democrats," will lose all credibility (if they ever had any).

At least I'm happy to say that Joe scarborough has the brains to say this is "Another reason to vote Democratic." If only for his comments I will resist condemning all Republicans for the foolishness of many. But I'm getting damn sick of this country being led by their lot.